


Dance In The Rain

by Wallwalker



Category: Star Ocean: The Second Story
Genre: Community: temps_mort, Multi, Post-Canon, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-01
Updated: 2009-12-01
Packaged: 2017-10-04 01:50:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A rainy day is a good time for looking back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance In The Rain

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [Temps Mort](http://community.livejournal.com/temps_mort) on Livejournal.

It was almost dawn, and Rena woke up to hear the sound of autumn rain falling on the roof of her house in Arlia. She got up, stretched, and walked out to the window, knowing what she would see - Noel standing outside in the rain again.

Every time Rena sees him standing in a downpour, she is reminded of a particular scene - a moment in Linga, after they'd found a rare herb for Bowman and before they'd learned that the invasion had finally come to Lacour Continent. She remembered looking out the window early one morning, after the sound of the pounding spring rain had woken her out of a troubled sleep, and looking down to see Claude and Ashton chasing each other through the rain.

She'd had to rub her eyes and look again to be sure she'd really seen it. But there they were, as real as anything, running around in the mud like a couple of kids in their traveling clothes. The only one out of the three that hadn't looked deliriously happy had been Gyoro, and even he seemed less unhappy about the ridiculous circumstances than he was about the slight chill in the air.

She remembered how happy they'd looked when they'd finally come inside, too. Nineh had fussed over them, forced them into large, thick white robes and given them cups of steaming hot cocoa. Bowman had just rolled his eyes and walked away, and Celine had taken it upon herself to rib the two about it for days.

Rena hadn't said or done anything, and that had mostly been because she hadn't wanted to upset Claude. She'd been a different person back then, naive and impulsive and still laboring under a huge crush on Claude that just wouldn't seem to die. Even after he said the most astonishingly dense things and made her so angry, she'd still found herself thinking about him constantly, wondering what it would be like to kiss him.

Yes, she'd most definitely been a different person then. Mayor Regis had always said that there were only two things that could truly bring a person maturity - time and tribulation. She'd certainly had enough of both to last for her entire life, and in such a short span of time, too.

Nede, the Wise Men, her real mother... it all seemed so unreal, as if she'd imagined it all. But she hadn't - the man standing outside and looking at the rain was proof of that. He'd come from that world, after all. And Noel had been the absolute last person she'd expected to come back to Arlia with her. A long time ago, she'd hoped that Claude would be with her, and maybe Ashton and Dias too... they were all her friends, after all, and maybe Claude had been a little bit more. But Dias hadn't been able to stop moving - at least he wasn't alone anymore, she reassured herself - and Claude and Ashton had finally decided to go off on their own.

The old Rena might have been unhappy about their decision, but the woman she was now wished them well. Westa had always told her that no one could ever tell who they would love; perhaps Tria chose that for them. But Ashton and Claude had each other, and she was glad; she would've been heartbroken if they'd ended up lonely or sad. They were happy together, and that was enough.

She was happy with Noel too, at least most of the time. Some of his strange habits could get irritating, and he could be distant sometimes... but she loved him, and she was sure he loved her, because she knew how hard he was trying to make things work. It seemed to be an uphill road for him, but he took all of the difficulties with a smile on his face.

The sun was coming up, although she could only tell by the gradual brightening of the sky, a slow fade-in of ambient light. She walked out of her bedroom, pulled a cloak off of a hook on the wall, and walked outside. The air was chilly, but she was used to it - Arlia in the fall was always pleasantly cool at night.

Noel turned to look at her as she approached. "Oh, hello," he said, smiling.

"Good morning." She walked up to him and took his hand. His damp skin was quite cool. "Standing in the rain again? You might catch a cold..."

"Oh, it's all right. I never catch colds," Noel said with a small laugh. "Besides, I like the rain around here. The smell in the air... it's really nice. Not like the rain on Nede at all. It makes me feel more alive..."

Rena smiled and looked around. It was nice, really. She was starting to see why her old friends had liked it so much, even if it did look so silly. Sometimes, she supposed, you just had to do ridiculous things, in order to love something the way it's meant to be loved. "Hey, Noel?"

"Hmm?"

She grinned up at him impishly. "Have you ever danced in it before?"


End file.
